Immortal Healer: Immortal Stonekeeper Prequel (2025) Chapter 14: Chapter 14: Mutual Acquaintances

Read chapter 14 of Immortal Healer: Immortal Stonekeeper Prequel (2025) by Mercynarie on NovelPedia.

“Lucy! Lucy, are you here?” Duncan ran through the crowd of groggy creatures, searching for his friend. Bloody hell, she’s not. Duncan breathed hard to calm himself. No, there was nothing to worry about. If Lucy wasn’t here, it just meant that she must be housed at the Marked Emissaries’ twelfth base. So all he had to do was locate where it was. And thankfully, these prisoners seemed lucid enough to speak now. A small figure slammed into him without warning. “You saved me.” Hilda held him tightly, nuzzling her face against his torso. “Thank you, Duncan… You care so much about me—” Duncan pushed the girl aside as gently as he could and walked away. This wasn’t the time for sentimental moments; his friend was in trouble. “Hey, hey! Sir, or Madam!” he called out to a werewolf; he could never tell their gender when they were transformed. “Was there a vampire called Lucy among you? About a hundred and seventy centimetres tall, black hair, nine hundred and twenty-six years old?” “H— Huh?” the male werewolf responded, shifting back into his human form: a balding man who looked in his late forties. “N— No, I don’t recall. Where am I?” Duncan approached another bronze-skinned leprechaun, who had a full head of auburn hair curly enough to make even Cupid envious. “Hey, have you seen—” “A vampire called Lucy? About a hundred and seventy centimetres tall, black hair, nine hundred and twenty-six years old?” the leprechaun answered lazily. “That depends. Did she steal my pot of gold?” “I don’t think so?” “Then I do not know her.” He waved a dismissive hand. “No offence, but I have already spent nine months stuck in this place. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I would like to go home and attend to my cobbler business. Which way is the exit again?” Duncan frowned, although he conjured a portal back to the physical world anyway. Desperate as he was to get some clues, it was no reason for him to stand between these people and their freedom. They had suffered long enough. Movement broke around him as the creatures shuffled, slithered, or floated out of the liminal space. A few of them gave him looks of gratitude, but most were just concerned with getting the hell out of this messed-up, paranormal prison. The last creature didn’t cross the portal but approached Duncan instead. Her facial features were distinctly East Asian, and she was also dressed in a traditional, white kimono. In fact, she could almost pass off as human, if not for the five huge fox tails rippling behind her. Duncan almost gasped in recognition. “Fubuki?” “Duncan Ward, a pleasure to see you again.” The Kitsune sank into a deep bow. “Please do not mind their manners. We have spent quite some time in this place, and we are all eager to get home. On behalf of everyone here, I thank you for freeing us. But as for Lucy Carpenter, I am sorry to say that she is not among us.” “Hold on, did you not send an invitation to her just a few days ago?” Fubuki shook her head. “I did no such thing. You might already know this, but all of us had been tricked into entering this prison by a certain organisation. I know not who they are, but I have overheard the name ‘Lucy Carpenter’ when they entered this place. If they have impersonated me and sent a false invitation to lure her into a trap, I am not surprised.” Duncan’s gut twisted itself even further. “What else did you hear?” “Only that Lucy is the last creature on their list and will be shifted to somewhere called a ‘tournament ring’. I have not the specifics, but those people were placing bets on who would be the last one standing, whatever that means.” “Any idea where this ‘tournament ring’ might be?” Straight, silvery hair sloshed around as Fubuki shook her head again. “They never mentioned it, but I happened to pull this from them in my struggle before they tied me down with those red strings— blessed chains; I think that’s what they’re called— and tossed me in here. I am not well-versed in black magic, but perhaps this will be of use to you in